Customer Reviews

Splinter

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kelli's gone. So what? With this album, it's hard to believe she even was with them. Besides, Chris, Liam, and journalist not in the band Ian Pickering wrote all the songs (Kelli wrote 3 or 4 b-sides). Chris was going to sing on Becoming X in the first place! This album starts out with Half Life, one of my favorite songs on this CD. It's a cross between Goth and Trip-Hop, and Chris' voice is dark and mysterious. Then comes Low Five, the lead single, which prompted me to get this album. This song got to the top 40 in the UK (for once a good song goes to the Top 40). It's an song about corporate anthems like high five, peace sign, and smiley face that can't pick him up, so he's like, "give me a 'low five.'" A cool, rockish song. Lightning Field has a cool drum beat (listen to the first interlude), a girl singing gospel-like backup vocals, and Chris pleading for someone to "strike me down". Curl is a depressed (most of the songs are), rockish type of song, that's good as well. Destroying Angel is another one of my faves, it's slower and mostly acoustic guitar, but you have to read the lyrics. It's an awesome song. Empathy is acoustics, samples from Kronos Quartet, and Chris singing. This song is very fragile and emotional. Beautiful. Superbug is the hardest rocking song on the CD, and one of my favorites (it's my anthem at this point in time). Very cool song. Then it slows down and gets more depressing with Flowers And Silence. It could make a few people cry. Cute Sushi Lunches is strange, but really cool and mysterious. The rhythm is tricky and hard to follow, and it'll throw you off. Ten to Twenty, the latest single, is another of my favorites, a very Becoming X like song, but with more guitars. Splinter is a cool song, mostly acoustic w/ drums, a bit strange in the chorus. Wife by Two Thousand is my favorite song on the CD, and my favorite song of all-time! Yeah, it doesn't have the darkness of Half Life, or the rockishness of Superbug, but read the lyrics. That's what makes this song special. It's slower, but beautiful. The girl on backup vocals has pretty voice, the song is kind of acoustic, and the chorus is beautiful. The beginning is interesting, I don't care if it's backwards, the girl on backups has a great voice! The coda is a strange, yet nice way to end the CD, with the people walking, and someone whistling the chorus. All in all, a splendid album, my favorite of all time in fact. Standout tracks: Half Life, Destroying Angel, Wife by Two Thousand.

At first i thought that the band made a big mistake by getting rid of their female vocalist. I gave it a listen, and was not very impressed. On a whim i bought the album which is now by far the best album that i own. Every song on the album is good, no great. However, if i had to pick my favorites they would have to be Half-Life, Low Five, and Destroying Angel.

I don't know what to think. I am a big fan of 'Becoming X'. 'Splinter' is full of really good songs, but I really think the guy sounds like a victimized cry baby. Yes I know he wrote all the lyrics for "Becoming X", and I know that he is the musical genious behind the Sneaker Pimps, but his voice just doesn't do it for me. Can't they just get the girl back? I will probably listen to this CD from time to time because I'm sure I will one day learn to like it. Everybody else does.... right?

I can really see a comparison to this band and radiohead. why this album wasn't released in America, I don't know. But it upsets me because this cd is a lot better than some of the ... out there today. My favorite songs on the cd are Half life, Low five, Curl, Empathy, superbug, and wife by two thousand. Of course the entire cd is great. I can't decide though whether cd is more creepy or beautiful. I think it's a mixture of both. Most of the songs sound like they have an orchestra playing in the background, and the instruments sound heavy and deep, songs like Half life remind me of what we would hear in heaven, while cute sushi lunches sound more like hell. All in all this is a great album. It's a different Cd, its worth buying on here if you live in the USA. By the way this IS NOTHING like there first album, with that girl kelli. they knew that Chris would sound better against there music and fired her. Sad but it works for me.

I had lost interest in this band since they no longer had the female lead singer, but I happened to hear "Low Five" on Pandora one day so I decided to track this CD down, since I couldn't find it for download. While it is completely different from their earlier work, I like it. Kinda dark, definitely moody. A++

"Splinter" is such a departure from "Becoming X" that the band could have changed names. Gone is the bounce of "Tesko Suicide" and "Waking Early Sunday Morning", replaced with an emo-punk-rock sound on "Superbug" and "Lightning Field". The heavy sampling that gave Becoming X its trippy feel is supplanted by something like 30 Seconds to Mars but without the energy. And let's not forget the vocals - Chris's dreary lament can't hold a candle to the sweet yet hurting voice of Kelli.

That said, "Splinter" stands in its own right as a cohesive and brooding experience. Lyrically and thematically it's a subdued Stabbing Westward. Musically, it's Dashboard Confessional with the stiff upper lip of the British rather than the whine of spoiled American suburban discontent. The band has indeed transitioned from trip-hop (the poppier side of Bristol sound) to emo, and shows considerable competence here. The songs feel more measured. "Becoming X" was sample supporting Kelli like the Vanity Fair shoot with the dude behind Janet Jackson using his hands like a bodice. At the same time, there is no single standout track here to compare with "Becoming X's" heartwrenching "Waterbaby" or playfully naughty "6 Underground".

Firing previous female singstress Kellis might be argued from an advance in career point of view. Installing male singer Chris Corner in the midst of the gloomy soundscape however hardly weakens their ability to come across with some good and heartaching music.

This is a far more linear album than the '96 debut "Becoming X", and one might easily fall into the trap of thinking it's more boring, which by the way was my immediate response. The album slowly grows along with listening to it up to ca. 20 spins, and by then it has reached 4 stars in my book. And listening back to "Becoming X", I actually don't think it's the classic I thought of it as back in '96/'97. It sounds a bit too much of an attempt to slide in with other contemporary bands within the genre, whereas the soundscape of "Splinter" is more timeless and in style with the songs presented.

By the way; "Half Life" is their strongest track to date, only challenged by the excellent album-version of "6 Underground".